THE SKY Blues have begun formulating plans for next season's promotion challenge in the Nationwide First Division.

As well as off-loading unwanted players and trimming the club's wage bill to cope with their dramatic loss in revenue - estimated at more than #15 million when taking into account the loss of a lucrative TV deal - City are also looking to bring in new blood to ensure they are favourites to make a rapid return to the Premiership.

And top of Gordon Strachan's list of new players are a few old stagers who can bring valuable experience to guide his talented young squad to success.

The manager has already admitted that among the mistakes he has made over the last three years is losing too many senior players from the squad without replacing them, and the search is on to find a few generals to lead his troops.

"We aim to make sure that come the end of September we are absolutely certain that we are favourites to come straight back up to the Premiership and we need a few old dogs to in there to do it," said chairman Bryan Richardson.

"No disrespect to who those old dogs might be, but you need a mixture of older players and young boys in your team. They might not be players that appear exciting to the fans but we are after real leaders who can talk as much as they can play.

"Gordon Strachan and Roland Nilsson know what it is going to require to get us back up there and we will do it."

The cash-strapped club clearly need to sell some players in order to strengthen the squad and goalkeeper Magnus Hedman looks favourite to move on.

The player is ambitious and, as Sweden's No.1 and one of the top ten keepers in the world, he would command a healthy transfer fee.

Other players who may also be seen as saleable assets include the Moroccans Moustapha Hadji and Youssef Chippo and former Liverpool midfielder David Thompson.

Coventry's outstanding player of the year Gary Breen will also be hot property but the club may want to hang on to such a quality centre-half.

"In terms of trimming the wage bill, we will have to see about that," said Richardson. "It is not absolutely rock solid that we have to do that, although it makes sense that you should chop and change a little bit.

"We have made our plan and identified that we need to sell one or two players that we don't consider critical to us getting straight back up, or who may be damaging to our chances of doing that.

"If you lose your income, which will go down by #8 million a year, then it can be difficult to live with. If you are making #20 million and you lose #8 million it is not the end of the world but if you are only breaking even and lose #8 million, then it is a different matter.

"The finance is one thing of course, but the most important thing is to keep the spirit alive and that you believe in getting yourself back up. We went down with great spirit and we will come back up with great spirit."

On the club's list of players they will be looking to retain are most of the rising young stars, including the likes of Craig Bellamy and John Eustace.

"I see John Hartson as being important but I also see John Eustace as being important," revealed Richardson.

"Equally, players like Barry Quinn, Chris Kirkland, Marcus Hall, Lee Carsley, Craig Bellamy - they are all going to be hugely important to us and we have got to make sure those boys come back to us on July 1 with the right attitude.

"It is up to them whether they are mentally strong enough to want to come back and do it for us, because they are the boys we want.

"We have got a fantastic youth system at Coventry and Gordon has made all of the boys come on and we want to keep that going.

"The average age of the team is very young, maybe 23 or 24, and it was the young boys out there on Saturday like Barry, Chris, John and Marcus and so on that were the ones that showed - and I am not saying the others didn't - but we saw how much it mattered to them.

"So we will take stock, rebuild a little and make sure the people who come on the next ride are the ones massively committed to Coventry City.

"Anyone who is not too fussed about playing in the First Division - as far as we are concerned we don't want them anyway. We just want players who want to pull on the shirt."

Despite coming to the end of an era, Richardson is adamant that the club concerns itself only with the future rather than dwelling on the past.

Asked what the end of 34 years in the top flight meant to him, he replied: "That's all rubbish! Sometimes people look backwards too much and fail to look forwards enough."

"The Cup Final 13 or 14 years later is a noose around your neck, with lots of fans thinking life today is not like it was in 1987. Of course it is not.

"Anyone could win the cup in '87 whereas now, probably only four or five teams - just like with the league - can win the cup, so it is a different thing nowadays.

"Even to stay up 30 years ago was not too difficult. Now money rules everything. Even 10 years ago money wasn't really an issue but it is the over-riding issue in football now and unless you generate more income, you are almost fighting a losing battle."

Despite Coventry City bringing an end to their 34-year reign - surpassed only by Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool - Richardson believes the club have made many friends who will be sad to see them drop out of the elite division.

"It was a very sad day at Villa Park but to be honest it was nice that by 12 o'clock there were 26 messages on my mobile phone from really quite nice people in football, all saying "Go on, go and do it."

"They included 12 Premier League chairmen as well as lots of mates of mine who have nothing to do with Coventry at all. No, Doug Ellis was not one of them but then I wouldn't expect him to spend 2p on a phone call to me. We shook hands afterwards and that's fine, that is the way it is."

And Richardson is determined to carry on in the Highfield Road hot seat and help steer the club back to the Premiership.

Asked if he had considered walking away, he replied: "Christ no! I have been here nearly 10 years now and I hope to carry on. I love the club to death."

And his message to the supporters: "The fans have been fantastic all season but it is not the end of the world.

"I just hope they will stay with us because this is a great club. We thank the fans for being magical supporters. Thirty-four years is one thing but the last five to nine years have been hugely difficult and to survive on our gates and revenue has been marvellous.

"Get behind Gordon and the players and we will all do everything we can to get straight back up."